2011: India

The awards for the 2011 Open Doors co-production lab, that is organised with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the support of the City of Bellinzona, were announced on Tuesday August 9.

The 2011 session was devoted to cinema from India. 12 projects, selected out of over 200 applications in 18 different languages from 30 regions in India, participated in the Open Doors co-production lab, organised with the collaboration of the Festival Industry Office. The objective of the 4-day workshop that took place during the Festival, was to assist the selected directors and producers to find co-production partners and to complete their films.

The jury, composed by Martina Malacrida and Nathalie Soldini for the Festival del film Locarno, by Walter Ruggle and Martial Knaebel representing the Swiss support fund for production "visions sud est", by André de Margerie and Remi Burah for ARTE, by Jacqueline Ada and Ramdane Saâd for CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée) decided upon the following grants, awarded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC):

Grant Open Doors 30.000 CHF:
THE TRAPPER’S SNARE by Shanker Raman produced by Rucha Pathak

Grant Open Doors 20.000 CHF
BURQA BOXERS directed and produced by Alka Raghuram

Grant for development CNC (Centre National du cinéma et de l’image animée) 7.000 Euros
LASYA (The Gentle Dance) by Anup Singh produced by Johannes Rexin

Grant for development ARTE 6.000 Euros
CHAR… THE ISLAND WITHIN directed and produced by Sourav Sarangi,
co-produced by Stefano Tealdi and Signe Byrge Sørensen

Aside from the workshop, the Open Doors Screenings, aimed at both festival goers and professional delegates, will run until the end of the Festival. The 2011 programme presents a selection of 13 key films made in recent years in India and a Retrospective dedicated to Indian Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray.

Aharbal Falls:     
Ajay Raina (Director)

Ajeeb Aashiq:
Natasha Mendonca (Director), Mridu Chandra (Producer)

Arunoday: 
Partho Sen Gupta (Director),
Rakesh Mehra (Producer)

Burqa Boxers:
Alka Raghuram (Direcor)

Char, The Island Within:
Sourav Sarangi (Director),
Signe Byrge Sorensen (Producer),
Stefano Tealdi (Producer).

Jat Panchayat:
Satish Manwar (Director),
Manaswini Lata Ravindra (Producer)

Lasya (The Gentle Dance):
Anup Singh (Director),
Johannes Rexin (Producer)

Samaadhi:
Sidharth Srinivasan (Director),
Pete Tombs (Producer)

Sebastian Wants to Remember: 
Vasant Nath (Director)

The Trapper’s Snare: 
Shaker Raman (Director),
Rucha Pathak (Producer)

Thread (Le Fil): 
Lilium Léonard (Director)

Vidhvastha (Devasted): 
Ashish Avikunthak (Director),
Moloy Mukherjee (Producer)

Cinéfondatio

(Thailand) Tam Rasisalai by Pramote Sangsorn

(Hungary / France) S.K. by Laszlo Nemes

(Germany) Bastard by David Nawrath

(Thailand) Arunkarn by Sivaroj Kongsakul

(Russia) Entomology by Julia Kozyreva

(Ukraina / US) Lady’s Mantle by Bohdana Smyrnova

In addition, the 64th Locarno Festival proudly presents three films whose projects took part in Open Doors co-production lab past editions:
in the Concorso internazionale TANATHUR (Last Days in Jerusalem) by Tawfik Abu Wael (Israel/Palestine/France/Germany), winner of the 2007 Open Doors co-production lab; in the Concorso Cineasti del presente SOLNETCHNIYE DNI (Sunny Days) by Nariman Turebayev (Kazakistan), winner in 2010, and HELLO! SHU XIAN SHENG (Mr. Tree) by Jie Han (China), part of Open Doors 2009.